Man Gets Life in Prison for Raping 3 Women, Girl Within a Week in Brooklyn

A 26-year-old man was sentenced to 100 years to life in prison for raping four victims within a one-week period in Brooklyn, including a 15-year-old girl, prosecutors said Monday.

Dexter Bell, of Crown Heights, was convicted Nov. 9 of six counts of predatory sexual assault following a jury trial. According to trial testimony, he primarily used his home neighborhood as his hunting grounds, attacking three women and a teenage girl within the span of a week in April 2013.

In the first attack, on April 4, 2013, Bell followed a 25-year-old woman after she got off an MTA bus near Albany Avenue and Fenimore Street. After trying to talk to her, he grabbed her hand, pulled her into an alley, put his hands around her neck, threatened to kill her and punched her in the face, according to trial testimony. He then raped her.

Four days later, Bell walked up to a 21-year-old woman near Schenectady Avenue and Montgomery Street and said hello, according to trial testimony. The woman recognized Bell from the neighborhood and said she was heading to work. Bell led her into a nearby alley and raped her.

Bell started talking to a 19-year-old woman in Canarsie on April 11, 2013. He eventually led her to a stairwell and grabbed her by the hair when she tried to leave, according to court documents. He raped her.

About 12 hours later, Bell started chatting up a 15-year-old girl walking along the B12 bus route in Crown Heights. The girl had seen Bell in the same area the day before, according to trial testimony. The two went into a building on Midwood Street, where Bell pulled the girl into an elevator and then to a staircase on the sixth floor and raped her, according to trial testimony.

Bell was arrested after an anonymous tipster who saw media reports about the rapes gave police his name and address.

"This serial rapist, who committed four rapes within one week, including one of a 15-year-old girl, is a sadistic and violent sexual predator who is simply not fit to walk the streets ever again," Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson said in a statement. "That’s why he must spend the rest of his life behind bars.”

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